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John Ballard
John Ballard was an Inquisitor in the Order of Iludin during the Rise of Sistona. Early Life He was born a nameless orphan abandoned on the stoop of an orphanage in Helestor. He had no name, but as he grew, he showed a natural affinity for sneaking and swiping things from others. By the age of four, this had earned him the name "Nick". Nick Nick lived on the streets of Helestor for most of his young life. He made friends with the rats in crawlspaces and drains. Before he could even speak Tellarian fluently, he found he could communicate with the rats. When he was sixteen years old, unforeseen circumstances brought him into the Order of Iludin. Fall of Helestor In Year 5308 of the Age of Veradorianis, the Ebon Noose cult attempted to overturn Helestor for its myriad treasures and resources. The red dragon Bloodscale intended to consume its riches in a bid for immortality, while Szarduk Karmigian wished to rule the city. Nick was caught up in these events through his partner at the time, Noella Misrael. Nick was brought into the Iludin by Lord Marshal Hardyn and trained in combat by High Inquisitor Celestos at Fort Sartisorn. Szarduk Karmigian attempted to fully open the rift in Raea’s Scar but was stopped by Noella Misrael, Jasper, and Nick. Nick eviscerated Karmigian and kicked his corpse into Raea's Scar. Then he walked off into the tunnels of Arvenlaad and no one in Helestor heard from Nick again. John Ballard Nick spent nearly two years underground in the Deep before emerging into the Black Forest of Darrog. He befriended the Strongfletcher Tribe of trolls through the defeat of a roaming feldrake. They named him Dal’zan, or "Hero of our People". Rise of Sistona In 5331 AoV, Sistona was taken over by Karmigian, who now called himself "The Horned Duke" after his return from Hell. On a routine scouting mission south of Sistona, two initiates were attacked by a tocarn. Connor Gazaan and Brema Hass tried to fight it off, but were saved by the troll Zenji, who intervened. John followed his lead and communicated with humans for the first time in over twenty years. The group fought together against the Horned Duke and his allies from Darrog to the Corrian Isles and back. When they returned to Sistona, the Horned Duke captured them. John was taken to a dungeon to be experimented upon. The Horned Duke wanted tocarn assassins, and who better to use as a base than the man who assassinated him? Noella was in the same room, strapped to a similar table, dead, yet still being experimented upon. Varmiscias The Horned Duke was defeated, no thanks to him. He never called himself by this tocarn name that the Horned Duke had given him. By the Year 438 of the Age of Telvimbror, Varmiscias's patience was gone and his sanity not far behind. He gathered up and led other tocarn through the planes to capture the celestial Elyzier and force him to free the Horned Duke. Together they demolished Fort Sartisorn, dispelled the silver wall and the wards around the Horned Duke’s imprisoned stone body, and freed him. Elyzier, as his last action, transported them to the sparsely-inhabited Phaelyn. For this, the Horned Duke murdered him. Varmiscias revealed his true motives and begged the Horned Duke to bring Noella Misrael back from the dead. Upon Karmigian's flimsy word, he began training the tocarn based off of him--the ripskulks--in return. A year later, the Horned Duke’s Scepter was placed at the Epicenter of Phaelyn. It began draining all arcane energy from Phaelyn. After ten hollow years of unfulfilled promises, Varmiscias left the tocarn in 448 AoT and once again wandered off alone, this time into Daromir. The Horned Duke's Scepter The Horned Duke launched his first attack in Phaelyn against the island kingdom of Saarym in 512 AoT. The tocarn are repelled, but both Lord Robert Ronarin and his eldest son Staniel were killed, leaving the furious and grief-stricken Cel'rathal Ronarin the leader of New Alvoran's armies. This resulted in a stalemate between the two armies lasting six years. Not much is known about the end of John Ballard's story. The end of the Horned Duke is shrouded in mystery, as are all things in Phaelyn. Some say that he repeated his actions at Raea's Scar and simply murdered him. Some say that in their struggle, both he and the Horned Duke were sucked into the Epicenter. What is known is that they disappeared from history at the same time in 519 AoT.